


Only 10 Minutes

by CakeofRage



Category: Original Work
Genre: Anxiety, Gen, POV First Person, Self-Insert, Social Anxiety, venting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-07
Updated: 2016-10-07
Packaged: 2018-08-20 00:08:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8229472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CakeofRage/pseuds/CakeofRage
Summary: It wasn't a long period of time, but it was long enough to make her wish she could teleport, or disappear completely.--Venting about an experience through the eyes of one of my characters.





	

Tina came upon a crowd and froze. 

She spoke at the volume of a mosquito’s buzz. “Excuse me...” 

The crowd in front of her seemed to blur together. 

“Excuse me...” she repeated herself. She stared out in front of her, trying to tune out the people. To outsiders she probably looked like she was talking to the sidewalk. 

Someone finally saw her and moved out of the way. She couldn’t see the look on her face, or hear over the sound of her heartbeat, but she was sure that the person in front of her thought she was crazy, or some laughable thing. 

When she came back to reality, Tina finally noticed the person’s dog. 

Great, people probably thought she was talking to the golden retriever and waiting for him to get out of the way too. 

Because she liked dogs - but mostly to save face - she held out her hand for the dog to sniff. He seemed to like her. 

But the people were still congregating in front of the shop, waiting now for her to pass. 

Unsure of what else to do, she fled, as was her intention. Only now, she was stuck behind someone else blocking the path. 

Clenching her fists, she tried to find the clearest path to avoid everyone. 

She walked around the tree planted by the curb, and resumed her journey home. 

How ironic; she took the long path to avoid embarrassment in front of a crowd and only came upon more people and more opportunities for embarrassment. 

“I don’t like people,” she muttered to herself repeatedly, sure that nobody heard her. “I don’t like people.” 

Fortunately, the rest of the way home didn’t involve crowds or anything, but each group of people that she passed made her skin bristle. 

The younger ones were probably laughing about her when she was out of earshot. The older neighbors probably thought she was rude for not saying hello. 

By the time she reached her front door, there was a lump in her throat and her eyes were stinging with tears that would never come.

**Author's Note:**

> It goes without saying, anxiety is awful.  
> I haven't really written anything in a while, and I usually use my characters to vent, so I decided that I should do this.


End file.
